Check out the first track (a spanking-new cover, just out this week) and it should give you a sense of whether or not you’re in the mood for the retro-outerspace-vibe that today’s mix is clocking.  The title comes from the Tom Petty tune Spike.   As always, right-click to download or play and Playlist is after the fold.

O’Pinionated Mix – “Future Ain’t What It Used To Be”

Playlist for O’Pinionated #8 – “Future Ain’t What It Used 2 Be”

1. The Flaming Lips (feat. Henry Rollins) – Money
2. Blue Sky Black Death – Days Are Years
3. The Detroit Experiment – Think Twice
4. Matthew Shipp – Nu-Bop
5. Clifford Gilberto – The 10th Victim
6. Jay Dee – LL
7. Cornelius – Smoke
8. Yo La Tengo – The Room Got Heavy
9. Dam-Funk – Burn Straight Thru U
10. Tune-Yards – Lions
11. Mike Ladd – To The Moon’s Contractor
12. Black Milk – Bounce
13. Jaga Jazzist – Real Racecars Have Doors
14. Red Snapper – They’re Hanging Me Tonight

I know I do. (Playlist is below the fold.)

O’Pinionated Mix – Summer Pop #6

Playlist for O’Pinionated Mix – Summer Pop #6

R.E.M.  – Superman
Dr. Dog – The Girl
The Police – Spirits In The Material World
The Beatles – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Modest Mouse – Paper Thin Walls
Elliott Smith – Alameda
Blondie – Dreaming
Toots and the Maytals – Pressure Drop
Camper Van Beethoven – Pictures of Matchstick Men
Black Francis – Lolita
The Jam – Sounds from the Street
The Cure – Love Song
Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City
Pulp – Mile End
Guided By Voices – I Am a Scientist
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – You Belong To Me
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Pin
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime (Live)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth
David Bowie – Changes
The Clash – Gates Of The West

But that’s only because these are twice as long.

Some epic-novel-type-slow-build cuts. (Playlist after the fold.)

O’Pinionated Mix #7 – “Stars Are Projectors”

Playlist for O’Pinionated Mix #7 – “Stars Are Projectors”

1. Wilco – Spiders (Kidsmoke)
2. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Elmo Delmo
3. The Cinematic Orchestra (feat. Patrick Watson) – To Build a Home
4. Modest Mouse – The Stars Are Projectors
5. Sigur Rós – Svefn-g-englar
6. Low And Dirty Three – Down By the River
7. Panda Bear – Bros
8. The Beta Band – She’s the One

So, I’m really feeling all the tunes on this mix right now.   I’ve got no idea why but I’ve been in a very hip-hop mood the past month.  Hence these latest 2 O’Pinionated installments.

Yes, I confess, Track #2 by Super Chron Flight Brothers, is in fact a repeat and was featured on an earlier O’Pinionated Mix (if anyone is paying this close attention to my mixes, I guess I’m surprised, beyond flattered, and perhaps even a little bit concerned).  Well, what can I say it is that good.  And I will definitely keep pumping it for years to come.

…As is the case with everything else on this mix. Mostly newer rap by acts that were new to me in the aughts, but now already on repeat and much beloved – (Oddisee, Hell Razah, Modill, Binary Star, Knux etc.)  Also some lifers who kept kickin it the way that I like it, well past the 90’s (PE, Masta Ace, Fatlip and Aceyalone).

And how is it again that I like it?

Say it with me:  I like it 2 bougie 2 strong… 2 bougie 2 strong… 2 bougie 2 strong…

2Bougie 2Strong Mix #5 -

“Ammendment Number Two-Seven-Eight-Nine”

Playlist for 2Bougie 2Strong Mix #5 –

“Ammendment Number Two-Seven-Eight-Nine”

1. Cut Chemist – (My 1st) Big Break
2. Super Chron Flight Brothers – To Catch a Thief (Live Fom Wall Street, NYC)
3. Public Enemy – Long and Whining Road
4. Oddisee (feat. Lo-G, Akir & Enigma) – 95 North
5. Vordul Mega (feat.  JFK & Vast Aire) – JFK Cannibal
6. Binary Star – Solar Powered
7. Johnson & Jonson – The Only Way
8. Raphael Saadiq – 100 Yard Dash
9. Modill (feat. Truth Enola and Thaione Davis) – Moves
10. Fatlip (feat. Charlie 2na) – The Bass Line
11. Unspoken Heard – Soul
12. Aceyalone (feat. the Soul of John Black) – Ace Cowboy
13. Elephant Beach (feat. Harry L & Moses Davis) – Satisfaction
14. Masta Ace – No Regrets
15. Sweatshop Union – Oh My
16. Hell Razah – Project Jazz
17. Erykah Badu – Penitentiary Philosophy
18. Tanya Morgan (feat. Chop & Kay of the Foundation)- We’re Fly
19. The Knux  – The Train

I am embarrassed to say I slept on Tumi & The Volume’s album when it first came out and only caught up with the re-issue this year on iTunes.  This track should give you a taste of the album’s vibe- basically a South African version of the Roots, complete with live band as the foundation.

Speaking of The Roots, Questlove’s Philadelphia Experiment is represented on this mix, as well as the newer Harlem Experiment follow-up from the same series (which also includes the superb Detroit Experiment).  Finally I have to thank Sandy for introducing me to half of the rap tunes on here– including the far out Senim Silla, his former outfit Binary Star and of course, the always great Masta Ace– one of the most underrated cats in the game.  Cut and paste or right-click the link.

Playlist after the fold

O’Pinionated Mix – 2 Bougie 2 Strong #4 “A Bowl of Cherries and Some Ghostmeat”

Playlist for 2 Bougie 2 Strong #4

Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics – An Epic Story
Tumi & The Volume – The Story Behind The Pain
Senim Silla – Brothers Killed Malcolm
Binary Star – I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Pt. I
Roy Ayers – Can You Dig It?
Binary Star – I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Pt. II
The Philadelphia Experiment – Just the Two of Us
Masta Ace -  Soda & Soap
Tanya Morgan – So Damn Down
Don Li – Part 38
Blue Sky Black Death & Hell Razah – Most Merciful
The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination – Giant Jumps
Thaione Davis – Leaving Babylon
The Harlem Experiment – Rigor Mortis
The Roots (w/Wale & Chrisette Michele) – Rising Up
Nina Simone – Summertime (Live)

O’Pinionated Mix #6 – “This is Hinky”

Playlist for O’Pinionated #6 “This is Hinky”

Brian Eno – Some Of Them Are Old
Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet – Aeternal (Paul Oakenfold Remix)
The Cinematic Orchestra – Channel 1 Suite (Four Tet Remix)
Sigur Rós – Ný batterí
Digable Planets – Black Ego
Mike Ladd – In Perspective
Low and Dirty Three – When I Called Upon Your Seed
Underworld – Stagger
The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis – Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
Gutbucket Slim – The Genius of the Crowd
Outkast – Da Art Of Storytellin’ (Part II)
Cornelius – Brazil
Beck – New Round
The Flaming Lips – Feeling Yourself Disintegrate

So it is with this spirit that I am inaugurating the return of MixTape Fridays.  Complete with a back-to-school special edition–  guitars cranked, in an anti-authoritarian collision of punk, garage, and indie rock.   Bad Brains and Pavement anarchicly coexisting alongside Joy Division and the Talking Heads.

Who else is gonna give you that, huh?

O’Pinionated Mix – 9th Grade Detention

(Playlist below the fold)

O’Pinionated Mix – “9th Grade Detention” Playlist

The Replacements – We’re Comin Out
Fugazi – Bad Mouth
Beastie Boys – Gratitude
The Patti Smith Group – Ain’t It Strange
The Smiths – London [Live]
Pavement – Box Elder
The Clash – Janie Jones
Sleater-Kinney – Words And Guitar
Talking Heads – Memories (Can’t Wait)  [Live]
Sebadoh – License To Confuse
Bad Brains – Pay to C*m    [Demo]
The Police – Dead End Job
PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie    [Demo]
John Lennon – Well, Well, Well
Rancid – Young Al Capone
Nirvana – Sliver
Joy Division – Digital
The Pixies – Debaser
Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated
Sonic Youth – Candle
Sex Pistols – Pretty Vacant
Wire – Mr. Suit

When the singer onstage decided to enhance her repetoire of kid’s songs, by taking requests, I think she was expecting my fellow kindergarteners to shower her with requests for  “Old MacDonald” or “The Wheel’s On The Bus.” This would explain the awkward moment of silence and chuckling that followed, when the hi-pitched five-year-old with the tangled head of red curls shouted out a request for “One More Cup Of Coffee ‘Fore I Go”!

What?  It was a folk club, wasn’t it?  Are you telling me they don’t know any Dylan?

Well, tomorrow I’m heading down the Newport Folk Festival for the first time (to catch a truly amazing line-up).  And so for today’s podcast, I’ve chosen to pay tribute to the gentleman who has made the most famous and controversial appearance ever at the fest (and the author of my favorite song when I was 5).

Yep, all the songs on today’s mix are by Bob Dylan and for fun I have chosen to alternate between classics performed Bob himself and a truckload of my favorite covers– several of which come crashing down on that very same folk/electric divide that shook Newport all those years ago.

Enjoy.  Full Playlist is beyond the fold.

O’Pinionated Mix 4 – Zimmerman’s Wake

Playlist for O’Pinionated Mix #4 – Zimmerman’s Wake

1. Nina Simone – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
2. Bob Dylan (w/Scarlet Rivera & Emmylou Harris) – One More Cup of Coffee
3. Cat Power – Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
4. Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Like a Rolling Stone (Live)
6. Bob Dylan – Maggie’s Farm (Live)
7. PJ Harvey – Highway ‘61 Revisited
8. Bob Dylan – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
9. The Byrds – You Ain’t Going Nowhere
10. Bob Dylan – Tangled Up In Blue
11. Gillian Welch – Billy (Live)
12. Bob Dylan – Summer Days
13. Jim James & Calexico – Goin’ To Acapulco
14. Bob Dylan & The Band (w/Last Waltz Ensemble) – I Shall Be Released (Live)
15. The White Stripes – One More Cup Of Coffee